A posthumous compilation of excerpts from a number of Lewis’s writings, this was a little hard to get maximum value from.
When you get a library book you are under a deadline to read it. Oh, sure, sometimes you can renew it, but you can’t count on that. In early August we went to the Bella Vista Library, mainly to get some novels in a certain series. I browsed (after taking a look through the large, recent expansion that seems to have doubled the library’s size). Nothing struck my fancy, as I have many books at the house I’ve yet to read
But I found this C.S. Lewis book, The joyful Christian: 127 Readings. I’m a sucker for anything by C.S. Lewis, and it’s a shame to go to a library and not bring something home, so I checked this one out. Three weeks to read it and get it back.
C.S. Lewis, however, is best read when you have plenty of time and no distractions. I wouldn’t say I had plenty of time to read this, but I had enough time. The readings were pulled from many of Lewis’s writings. At the place in the book where the writings were, the publisher/editor didn’t provide from which of Lewis’s writings the reading came. You had to go to an index of writings and look under the title given to the reading. I did that for a while, but found it unfruitful and quit before I got 1/3 through the book.
The book was a little weird, what with the readings coming from so many works. I didn’t think they all fit the theme of “joyful Christian”. But it was good. I don’t think I’ll read it again, but it was good.
It’s now back at the library. I wasn’t prepared to spend time there, so I just left it in the outside book drop. Now, back to my own library.
Their relationship, an affair or not, rocked the British world in 1936 and had repercussions for years afterwards.
About a month ago I made a deep search through my reading piles that sit on a bookcase in my bedroom closet. I added a fair number of books to this pile some years ago and have been slowly reading those books. So having finished another book, I went there to see if one on the shelves would be suitable for my next read.
I found the book The Intimate Correspondence of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. The subtitle is, I guess, Wallis and Edward Letters 1931-1937. I say “I guess” because the layout of the cover is strange, and it’s not clear to me that this is the subtitle. I picked this book up at a thrift store many years ago. Now, I’m not a big fan of the British monarchy and their whole system of nobility, but I love letters. That’s why I bought the book.
I won’t go into much of the history. Some people know it, some don’t. Edward was heir to the throne of England. Somehow he met Wallis Simpson, an American woman living in England. The were frequently together in social situations. The crown prince became enamored by her and, even though she was married (after a prior divorce), Edward ditched his girlfriend for her. Even though he was 37 when he met Wallis, Edward wasn’t ready to marry.
The letters in the book are mixed with a considerable amount of commentary. I was surprised that most of the letters weren’t between Wallis and Edward but between Wallis and her Aunt Bessie. They are interesting letters, tracing the development of the prince and her meeting, then getting to know one another, then becoming dependent on one another. The letters between Edward and Wallis begin only after several years of their relationship. And, they are not intimate in the sense we think of today. They don’t give salacious details of secret rendezvouses and trysts. They mainly consist of cute little things like “oh wasn’t that a great dinner party last night, my love?” As the relationship grew, the letters were more and more how he couldn’t live without her, how she loved him, but that it was all so futile.
Two things came out clearly to me from the letters, mainly the prince’s. He was terribly immature. Raised by governesses and tutors, with little involvement from his parents, Edward sounds like an 8th grade schoolboy as he writes to Wallis. All he knows are parties and pubs. Oh, he had duties, I realize, but they are rarely mentioned. Edward had regular, somewhat small parties at his country home and rarely interacted with his family. Wallis became more and more estranged from her husband, who was also a friend of the prince. Eventually Mr. Simpson has an affair with her good friend, giving her grounds for divorce.
Just in time, too, because Edward’s dad dies and he becomes king on Jan 20, 1936. And here the second thing that came out clearly begins. Naturally, all Britain wanted the king to marry, be happy, give them a queen, and hopefully produce an heir. But the king wants to marry a soon to be twice-divorced woman—an American to boot—and parliament won’t allow it. It was around September 1936 that the existence of Mrs. Simpson comes to the awareness of the British public. The prince has already been discussing this with the prime minister. He says Edward can’t marry Wallis. She will never be queen. If he does marry her, the entire cabinet will resign. Parliament will never agree to grant her any royal title. And this is what is so bizarre to me. The ministers and parliament—the government—have to approve who the head of state marries? That’s absolutely absurd, and it’s one of the reasons I think monarchy is ridiculous. Edward decides he can’t be king unless Wallis is by his side. See how immature he is? He gives up his throne and must leave the country in disgrace and exile.
But I prate, and have moved away from the book. While the letters were not quite what I thought they would be when I paid 50¢ for the book at a thrift store, I found it all captivating. It’s history, whether the persons involved are attractive to me or not. I found myself able to read many pages a day and rarely skipped anything. Yes, the commentary was more than I’m used to in a collection of letters, but it was not too much. I think the editor, Michael Bloch, got it about right.
I give this book 4-stars. Sorry, but I can’t give one about British royalty a full 5. But is it a keeper? I have a nice collection of letters, a number of which I started but few which I finished. The answer is no, it is not a keeper. I don’t see myself ever reading this again. So out to the donation pile it goes. Or I’ll sell it or give it away if one of my readers (you know who you are) wants it.
Why not keep it to have a broader collection of letters? That’s a good question, but ultimately why do I need to keep a collection of collected (or selected) letters? I don’t. They would be one more thing for my heirs to have to deal with when I’m gone. No, Edward and Wallis go out to the garage. I hope to recover the 50¢ for them, but will gladly see them go without recovering my investment. They were worth that price for sure.
Back in May I reviewed a book re-published by the Salvation Army entitled Love Slaves. I was critical of it, though admitted it did me good to read it. I said in that review that this would be a book for sale or donation. What I didn’t mention was that I had another book in the same series to read. That I did, finishing it last month in my wife’s and my reading aloud in the evenings time. This one is titled The Soul-Winner’s Secret and it’s by the same man, Samuel Logan Brengle of the Salvation Army.
Not one of a pair as I first thought, but one of a dozen or so. They will all be going for sale or donation.
Originally published in 1903 and re-published in 1984 (the date of this copy), my review could be nearly a carbon copy of the last review. The language is just old enough to be archaic. Sentence structures are often convoluted, with multiple levels of defining clauses, requiring re-reading, leaving out the inserted clauses, to find out what the meat of Brengle’s message was.
The message of the book is good. Winning souls for Jesus doesn’t happen by chance. The one who wants to see people added to the kingdom of God on earth must go about it deliberately, with much preparation, prayer, follow-through, and renewal. Chapter titles include:
The Soul-Winner’s Personal Experience
Be Obedient
Prayer
Zeal
Spiritual Leadership
What to Study
Personal Health
Prepare to win souls. Study to show yourself approved. Continuously renew your commitment and knowledge. Mind your own health (spiritual and physical) as you do so. Keep at it. Don’t lose your zeal.
As with the other book, this one, while good, is not a keeper. The next time I need a refresher course in my own role in expanding the kingdom of God, I will find a more modern book that is relevant for conditions in the world today. My rating on it is 3-stars, the markdown coming mainly due to the language issue.
But, a funny thing happened when I planned to put this and the other one out on the donation/sale table. About a week before we began reading this, I went to our basement family room, where the biggest part of our library is. Shelves line the west and half of the north wall. But some of those north shelves are hidden by the Christmas tree we keep up year round (it’s a long story). I reached behind the tree one day in June or early July to grab a copy of John Wesley’s Journal, and on the shelf below it I found a whole series of these books, identical binding and covers except for the title. Maybe twelve books in all including the two we read.
How did these two get separated from the set? The shelf I saw the series on was the bottom shelf. Back in 2010 or 2011, we came home from vacation and found our basement wet due to a hot water heater gone bad. The books on the bottom shelf of three book cases were damaged. Rather than throw the damaged ones away, I put them on a table by my computer desk and slowly, while waiting for something to happen on the computer, would open one of them and separate pages. These two books must have been the only ones of that set that were damaged.
I believe I’ve read enough of the set. The two books, which were barely water-damaged, will find their way back to their brothers and thence to the donation/sale table. But, if any of my readers want them, I’ll be happy to send them to them for just the cost of shipping. If you want to know all the titles first send me contact information and I’ll be happy to give you the list.
It took me at least ten years to finish this. A combination of many things to do and read, and maybe some repetitive boring passages and extraneous material caused me to set this aside for most of that time.
If you start reading a book, get 3/5th of the way through it, lay it aside, and pick it up again and finish it ten years later, does that say something about the book or about you?
That’s what happened to me with The Life and Diary of David Brainerd. It might actually be more than ten years, though for sure less than twenty. My edition of this book was printed in 1989 by Baker Book House, a reprint of the 1949 edition, edited by Philip E Howard, Jr. The original diary and life dates from 1749, first written and edited by Jonathan Edwards, the famed preacher.
Brainerd (1718-1747), from Haddam Connecticut, attended Yale University then became a missionary to the Indians, specifically the Delaware Indians of northern New Jersey. But he was a sick man, suffering from what modern scholars believe was tuberculosis. He had considerable success in his evangelistic efforts.
Brainerd kept a diary and journal at various times during his ministry. Sometimes this was required by the organization that sponsored his ministry. Sometimes he wrote of his own accord. After his death following a lengthy decline, Edwards, in whose house Brainerd spent his final months, had all the younger man’s journals and edited and published them, along with biographical material that Edwards wrote.
The journal is, like many journals are, somewhat boring. Brainerd wrote much the same thing from day to day. At least he did at certain times. At other times, especially in his last three years, he had more substantial and varied writing. It was more interesting. He was quite a man, working through poor health to evangelize the Indians. He took part in their everyday lives, not just preaching to them. It seems that the Indians loved him and regretted his parting from them when his health no longer permitted him to work.
Why did I put this book aside all those years ago? Like I said, it was somewhat boring. That was just the early part. Had I persevered, I would have come to the last third, which was considerably more interesting. I was also put off by the lengthy biography of Jonathan Edwards included. Philip Howard used 30 pages for a bio of Edwards, then two pages of a list of Edwards’ works. That left 320 some pages of the Life-Journal-Diary. I remember thinking that, if I wanted a bio of the fiery Edwards, I would have read a biography of him. For me, at the beginning of the book, it was wasted.
I picked up the book again about a month ago and finished it. I did so because I don’t like to abandon a book I start. Also, because I figured the book wasn’t a keeper. I wanted to finish it, then put it out for sale or donation. Finish it I did. And, as I thought, it isn’t a keeper. Once I finish this post, off to the garage it will go for disposition, one more book read and off the shelves.
I probably sound too negative. It’s a good book. If I were to rate it I’d give it 3 or 4 stars. It’s just not something I see myself ever reading again.
While we were in Orlando in May-early June, we took a morning to go to a Books-a-Million store near where we needed to pick up some first aid supplies. Lynda cut her foot on a barnacle-encrusted rock at the beach and had stitches. I also needed to take care of something at the pharmacy. Our errand completed, we went around the corner to the book store.
This book has an important message for the USA, but they way that message is presented rates it 2-stars from me.
That’s a favorite activity of mine, to go to a book store (or a library works just as well) and browse, select, read while drinking coffee, and probably not buy. On this day I bought a writer’s magazine, and Lynda bought The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn. Cahn is a Messianic Jew, and Lynda listens to his podcasts. I’ve listened some too, but haven’t heard them enough, or paid attention enough (I’m always multi-tasking) to get a good feel for what his message is. This book was our evening reading for much of June.
The subtitle of the book is “The Ancient Mystery That Hold The Secret of America’s Future”. The book essentially draws out parallels that Cahn sees between Isaiah 9:10-11 and the events of 9-11 and the years since then. It’s a warning—a harbinger—for America, to turn back to God.
In Isaiah, God’s protection was prophesied to be removed from Israel (the Northern Kingdom) and, because their response to God’s rebuke was incomplete, another judgment would fall on Israel. This happened to Israel, just as Isaiah prophesied.
The literary technique used by Cahn is a dialog, or actually two dialogs, between Nouriel and 1) an investigative reporter named Ana and 2) an unnamed prophet. It was this prophet who gave Nouriel a series of seals. Nouriel had to investigate what the seals meant. As he followed the clues, the prophet would suddenly appear and help him to understand what the seals meant, what Israel went through, and what the USA was going through.
I find it difficult to find any fault with what Cahn says in the book concerning the fate of the USA. He could well be right that we are on a declining leg of our up and down history, and there may not be a future up leg. Our zenith may indeed have happened and it’s all down from here. Cahn doesn’t lay out a litany of what’s wrong with America. Simply that we as a nation have turned away from God; that 9-11 was evidence that the hand of God’s protection has been removed from us; that we did not respond to that warning with repentance and turning but with defiance and bravado; that other judgments have come upon us and are still coming. I won’t say he’s incorrect about any of those. The book was copyrighted in 2011, and much has happened since then.
However, Cahn’s literary vehicle was not good. In fact, I’d call it bad. The dialogs between Nouriel and the prophet and Nouriel and the reporter were tedious and repetitive. The seals were a contrivance to build the story on. A simple statement of the message Cahn wants to give (Wake up, America! Wasn’t 9-11 enough? Wasn’t the Panic of 2008 enough?) could have been given in 100 pages or less instead of the 253 pages in the paperback we read.
He could have avoided the silliness of the seals. He could have spared us the endless dialog, and scenes of lower Manhattan or of various places in Washington D.C., where Nouriel and the prophet met up. Rabbi Cahn, if you read this, those things detracted from your message, they didn’t add to it.
It seemed that every night as we read, and I waded through the dialog or descriptions of what was on a fictitious seal, I would say aloud, “Well, he just lost 5 stars,” or “No way I can give this 4 stars.” In fact, if I post a review on Amazon, I will likely give it 2 stars. It would be 1 star for organization and writing, but higher for message.
In my mind, this book is not a keeper. I don’t ever plan on reading it again. Lynda will likely want to keep it. So on the shelf it will go.
As we continue to try to whittle down our inventory of books by pulling some off the shelf or out of piles that look like they will be good to read but not necessary to keep, my wife pulled Daniel off the shelf. It’s a Bible commentary volume by J. Vernon McGee, based on his radio “Through The Bible” broadcasts.
Every now and then I would catch McGee’s program while driving in the Kansas City area back in the late 70s/early 80s. Years and years later, in the first decade of this century (I think), I would catch it again sometimes. I enjoyed the program. The latter round was just a re-broadcast of the earlier programs, with a new intro added. I think Lynda picked up this book at a yard sale or thrift store. I know we didn’t buy it new.
It was an okay book. McGee’s broadcasts were for the layman and, since this volume is said to be more or less a transcript of his broadcasts (slightly modified as would be needed for a book), it’s easily read and provides some good information and explanations of the book of Daniel. I’ve read many other commentaries as I do my Bible studies and prepare to teach adult Sunday school, and find them almost written for scholars by scholars, not for laymen. This aspect of the book I liked.
I found the organization difficult. Where Daniel had his visions or where he interpreted the dreams of others, McGee put the commentary of the interpretations with the dreams/visions, rather than hold them for the verses of the explanations. Then, when he got to the verses of the explanations, he had nothing to say but to repeat what he had already said. It seems to me that if the Bible is clear, the commentator shouldn’t have to say much. Of, if the Bible repeats itself (as it sometimes does), the commentator should say little. McGee did that to some extent, but perhaps not enough.
In his defense, it’s a tough thing to write a commentary in a repetitive situation. I don’t think I could do any better. McGee also did a good job sorting out the historical context. The Bible doesn’t give a list of the Babylonian kings, or those of the Medes and Persians. That has to be obtained from non-biblical sources. McGee gives that info—a good thing.
Right after reading McGee’s book, we got out the Matthew Henry concise commentary and Daniel read that, sort of as an exercise. When I’ve used Henry’s commentary before, I found it different than others, having more of a insights for living a Christian life feel to it than just a technical explanation of the Bible. I thought, therefore, we might gain some of those insights. Alas, it wasn’t as good for that purpose as I hoped it would be. It’s still a good commentary; just not something you can read as sort of a devotional.
I’m glad we read McGee’s book. I give it either 3 or 4 stars. But it is not a keeper. Today it will go on the sale/donate table. Nor will I go out of my way to acquire any others in the series. It’s good, but not good enough in our era of dis-accumulation.
This war-time book was cheaply made, but it has survived almost 76 years and is still in the family.
Our, my wife’s and my, evening reading aloud has included several Agatha Christie books. At first I planned on doing these in the chronological order they were written and arranged them so in the box. But Lynda pulled one out at random. We read that and the pattern was shot after only two prior reads. So when I went to get the next one, I chose Evil Under The Sun. We had just seen the 1982 movie of this with Peter Ustinov. When I say “just” I mean as in the last year.
The book was good, though perhaps not as good as the movie. The plot differences were significant. Since I knew who the murderer and accomplices were I kept looking for the clues Christie must have put in the book to lead us to them. Alas, the clues weren’t there. Poirot’s ending discussion of who the murderer was and how he determined it was not as good as in other Poirot mysteries. I guess that’s what happens when you see the movie first and read the book later.
While I had a few reservations about the book, it’s Agatha Christie, so it’s obviously worth reading. This won’t be my favorite of hers, but it’s worth reading.
Mom signed most of her books, but usually with her first and last name.
One other thing about this particular book. Our A.C. collection, all paperback, we thought were mostly ones our son bought and left here, no longer wanting them. Turns out that’s not the case. Some of them were our son’s, but others appear to have other origins. Some have garage sale stickers on them. One has my grandfather Todd’s name written in it, so must have been his. This one is a cheap paperback printed in August 1945 (a wartime book, printed so as to consume fewer resources), and it turns out to have my mother’s name in it. Just “Dorothy” with no last name. That’s unusual for her to write only her first name in the book, but given the date of publication and what was going on in her life, it makes sense.
This will go back in the box of A.C. books. Someday we’ll get through them and get them to our daughter, which is where they are intended for.
I believe I mentioned on a previous post that I have a few book reviews to catch up on, smaller books that Lynda and I read aloud in the evenings, books that look interesting but that, once read, are not keepers. This book falls in that category.
The concept behind the title is good: by voluntarily uniting with Jesus was joyously become a slave for him. However, in the current times, perhaps this isn’t the best title.
Love Slaves by Samuel Logan Brengle was first published in 1923. Our copy is a mass market paperback from 1982. Brengle was with the Salvation Army, a man of considerable rank in that organization that took its titles from the military. The back cover copy describes that book this way.
Here is an encouraging message—calculated to incite us to seek the highest. Side by side there goes the force and light of love…words to clear the thought as well as to strengthen the Will and guide the Heart.
Alas, the book fell a little short of this intended goal. At least for me it did. The description indicates this is a discipling book, aimed at making Christians more aligned with the message and work of Jesus Christ. It does attend to that goal, but for me there were two main problems with it.
The language was archaic. Thought written in the early 1920s, the English use—especially sentence structure—was from a period a century earlier. Now, I’ve read a lot of works from the early 19th Century, so I’m no stranger to difficult English and have learned to pull the message from it with no problem. This book was more difficult to do that. I bogged down often with the long sentences and the strange way of saying things.
Since this is a Salvation Army book, which we probably picked up at a yard sale or thrift store, it includes terminology and practices unique to them. Thus, the book didn’t really seek to make the reader a better Christian but to make the reader a better Salvationist, as they call themselves.
I don’t want to mislead anyone. It’s not a bad book, just not as good as I was hoping for. If you want to read a discipling book and improve your Christian walk and service, I think you have a choice of a thousand books more modern than this that will help you more.
Thus, my original expectation was met. Not a bad book, but definitely not a keeper. Off to the garage it goes for sale or donation.
The name of David Livingstone has been famous for years. I was a boy when I learned it, understanding him to have been an explorer. Stanley’s famous line, “Doctor Livingstone, I presume”, while perhaps not historical, was familiar.
An introductory biography is just the thing for learning a little about a life your only marginally familiar with. This book filled that need.
So, when my wife recently gathered up some small books for our evening reading, I was glad to see that she pulled one about Livingstone from our shelves. David Livingstone: First To Cross Africa With The Gospel, by Mrs. J.H. Worcester, was first published in 1888, fifteen years after his death. We read a 1987 mass market paperback reprint of it by Moody Press.
Having said that Livingstone was practically a household name at one time, I have to admit to being ignorant of details of his life. This book provided them. Born in 1813 in Scotland, he had first thought to go to China as a missionary, but that nation closed due to war, so he went to Africa instead in 1841. There he married Mary, the daughter of fellow missionary Robert Moffat, who had inspired Livingstone to go to Africa. They would have six children together.
Livingstone’s work in Africa began as a Christian missionary for the London Missionary Society. Over time, the mission work was mostly turned over to others and Livingstone became an explorer of the interior of Africa. His reason for doing this was, at least in part, because of the horrors of the slave trade. Even though most European countries and the USA had outlawed it by the time Livingstone arrived in Africa, it was still going on in large numbers. He thought if he could help Africans have different economic opportunities they might cease cooperating with the slave traders. But the alternate economy required ports and roads to the interior. Livingstone looked for these.
This was an excellent little book (125 pg) that I highly recommend. I normally like to read more in-depth biographies, but this was a good entry point into the life of Livingstone. I told Lynda we needed to find a larger and more detailed biography. Then, while looking on the bookshelves in our basement family room, I found one. An inch and a half thick, it should be just the thing.
The small book, thought good, is not a keeper. Off to the garage it goes to sell or give away. While a modern reprints of the 1888 book are not hard to find, you ought to be able to find images of the original at several places on-line.
Not a bad book, but I can’t give it any more than 3 stars.
I didn’t plan on buying our denomination’s Lenten devotional book this year. We’ve bought them the last couple of years and, while helpful, we are trying not to add to our possessions and I thought maybe we could do without. But I relented and bought it.
Sacred Invitation Lenten Devotions Inspired by The Book of Common Prayer promised something different than past years. The Book of Common Prayer is an old thing, and old things aren’t always that bad. I was looking forward to it.
Each day included scripture reading: morning pslam[s], evening psalm[s], Old Testament Scripture, gospel reading, epistle reading. Then a devotional tied to those scriptures (most typically to the gospel reading for the day), a series of probing questions, and a prayer. My wife and I read these aloud, me doing the reading, her listening. Mostly in the evenings, and not timely. We lost a number of days when our grandchildren were here. I think we finished it two or three weeks after Easter. We read all the scriptures for the day and the book contents for the day at a single sitting.
The book was better than past year Lenten devotionals our pub house put out, but somehow, for me, this still didn’t get the job done. I give it just three stars. The scriptures chosen were mostly not from Holy Week, or the buildup to it. They were more anticipation scripture passages, or maybe preparation. That’s fine, I guess, as Lent is a season of preparation in anticipation of Easter.
The devotionals, I thought, were much better written than past years. Except both of the two authors seemed to go out of their way to avoid using the male pronoun for God. If I can find an example, I’ll edit it in at this point.
What puzzled me is how this book ties in to the Book of Common Prayer. The prayers weren’t from it, the devotionals weren’t from it, the probing questions weren’t from it. I assumed the scriptures had to be. But I think they are not. The Psalms chosen, for example, included many repetitions. As I read them I often said, “This is just about like one I read before.” When we finished the book I checked and, sure enough, many of the Pslams were repeated, one five times. I don’t expect that the Book of Common Prayer would repeat like that.
So, where does this book stand? I’m glad we read it, but it is not a keeper. It will go out to the sell/giveaway place in the garage. After four disappointing years in a row with these books, I think I will skip next year’s.
